


Baseball Game

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24561757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: Alex is under the weather when he is supposed to sing the national anthem at a baseball game, but is determined to do it anyway.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	Baseball Game

“Well, I hate to say this, but it looks like you have bronchitis, Alex,” a doctor told Alex as he walked back into the examination room.   
Over the past week, Alex had developed a bit of a cough, but shrugged it off, since he was set to perform the national anthem for an Orioles game the following Saturday. When he woke up with a fever and a worse sounding voice, he asked Jack to accompany him to an Immediate Care Center for moral support.   
They ended up having to wait a couple hours before actually being seen, and Alex spent it coughing, and telling Jack that he hoped this was just a bad cold, since the game was the very next day. Jack knew it was likely something more serious, since Alex did sound so bad, but he didn’t tell Alex this, not wanting to crush his hopes.  
“Will he be able to perform tomorrow?” Jack asked.  
“Yeah, I’m supposed to sing the national anthem for the Orioles game tomorrow afternoon,” Alex replied, coughing some. Jack stood up and walked to Alex, helping him stay sitting up until the fit finally went away.  
“Well, I’m not going to say no. one thing I can promise, is that it won’t be the best performance you ever give, since the constant coughing has been hard on your voice. I think my best advice would be to practice a couple times, since your voice is a bit altered; you need to know what to expect. Aside from that, try to not talk as much as possible until your performance, you don’t want to waste what voice you have left. Do some warmups right before, then rest up as much as you can after, so everything heals correctly,” the doctor explained.  
“Thank you, I really appreciate your help,” Alex replied.  
“Of course. My daughter is an All Time Low fan, so we’ve got to get you better before your next tour in a couple weeks. We’ll both be at the Baltimore show,” the doctor said with a smile.  
“That’s awesome! We’ll get Alex better by then so you guys can have a great time at the show!” Jack exclaimed. With that, the doctor walked out of the room, and Jack turned to Alex.  
“Well, this really blows,” Alex stated.  
“I know it’s not ideal, man. Are you still going to sing tomorrow?” Jack asked.  
“Absolutely, I’m not canceling this. I’ll probably sound terrible, but I don’t want to pull out of such a cool opportunity,” Alex replied.  
“Well, I’ll try to help you practice like the doctor suggested, then you should go on vocal rest. Oh, and I’ll stay the night with you so I can help you if you need it. We’re still going there with Rian and Zack, so maybe right after you sing, we can all go back to your house and watch the game,” Jack suggested.  
“No, you all were so excited to watch the game at the stadium, you all can stay,” Alex replied.  
“We can talk about that later, let’s just get you home so you can figure out how to sing with your voice being the way it is,” Jack said.   
The two of them walked out of the office, then Jack drove them back to Alex’s house. Once they got there, they went right to the basement, where Alex had a small music studio set up. Alex ran through the song a couple of times, trying to figure out how to hit some of the notes with his voice being in the condition that it was in.   
Jack stayed with Alex for the rest of the day, doing what he could to help his friend, and making sure that he stayed as silent as he could. Alex ended up going to bed fairly early that night, only to be kept awake by the nerves he was having about the day ahead.  
\-------------  
“Alex, you need to get up, it’s nine thirty,” Jack said, shaking Alex awake.  
“Already? I feel like I just went to sleep,” Alex said back. He tried to roll away from Jack, but a painful coughing fit forced him to sit up until it finally went away.  
“Man, you really don’t sound good. I want to say that I’m surprised that you still want to perform today, but it’s you, so I guess I’m really not,” Jack replied.   
With that, Alex got up, and went straight to the shower, the steam helping feel a bit better, even if it was just temporary. Once he was clean, he quickly got ready, then sat in his living room with Jack, waiting for the others. After a few more minutes, Rian and Zack arrived, so the two of them made their way out to Rian’s car.  
“How’re you feeling, Alex?” Rian asked as his friends got into his car.  
“Not great,” Alex replied, bursting into another coughing fit.   
“He’s not really supposed to be talking too much right now, he’s got to save his voice for the performance,” Jack explained.  
“Makes sense, that cough sounds bad,” Zack sympathetically said.   
On the drive, Jack mentioned the idea of the four of them going back to Alex’s after his performance so they could watch the game together, and everybody agreed that it would be a great idea. Alex wanted to make sure that they’d really be okay with leaving the stadium, but he knew he shouldn’t waste his voice talking about it, so decided to take his friends’ word for it. The car ride was mostly silent, aside from Alex’s coughing, which made his friends wonder if he’d really be okay for his performance.   
Once they got to the stadium, there was a bit of sound checking with the mic on the turf, then he went to wait in the tunnel of the stadium with his friends until it was his time to sing. Since there wasn’t a green room, the four of them sat in plastic chairs by the opening of the tunnel.  
“Only thirty more minutes! Are you excited?” Jack asked, trying to get everyone excited.  
“Kind of. This is such an awesome opportunity, but I just wish that I felt and sounded better than I do,” Alex replied, coughing some.  
“Makes sense, but I bet you’ll sound fine, even with the bronchitis,” Rian said back.  
“I sure hope so. Hey, thank for all being here, I really appreciate the support,” Alex replied.  
“Of course, dude, you’ve always got us,” Zack said, making Alex smile some.  
“And, if you guys change your minds, you can all stay here and watch the game. I don’t want you all to feel forced to come back home with me,” Alex stated.  
“Hell no, dude, we all decided to watch the game together when you booked this,” Jack said back.  
“Yeah, it doesn’t matter if it’s here, or on your couch,” Zack added, making Alex smile some.  
“Alex, it’s time for you,” one of the stadium employees said.  
“Sounds good. Hey, can they come out there with me? They can stand to the side or something, but it just wouldn’t feel right to be out there without them,” Alex requested.  
“Um, sure, that should be fine,” the employee replied.   
With that, the four of them stood, then walked out of the tunnel, and onto the field. The crowd cheered when they all walked out, making Alex feel a bit better about everything. After taking a deep breath, Alex went up to the microphone that was set up for him in the middle of the field, and the rest of the band leaned up against the side of the stadium.   
As the starting lineup for the opposing team was finishing being announced, Alex broke into another coughing fit. Jack really wanted to walk over to Alex so he could rub his back and assure him that everything would be fine, but he knew that he had to say where he was.  
“And now to perform the national anthem for us, the singer from Baltimore’s own All Time Low, Alex Gaskarth!” the announcer exclaimed, making the crowd cheer.   
Alex gave a small smile, then started into the song. He knew that people could probably tell that he was nervous, so he tried his hardest to get out of his head. Everything was going very well, until Alex started to feel another tickle in his throat, towards the end of the song. As the crowd cheered once he finished, he stepped away from the mic to cough again, then went back up to it to say a small thank you, before going back over to his friends, and exiting the field.  
“Alex, that was great!” Jack exclaimed, once they got back to the tunnel.  
“Really? I felt kind of weird about it,” Alex replied.  
“Well, of course you did, you’re always too hard on yourself,” Zack said back.  
“Yeah. I mean, I could tell that you weren’t feeling the greatest, but I never would’ve guessed that you had bronchitis, of all things,” Rian added.  
“I just feel like it wasn’t good,” Alex replied.  
“Alex, you’re my best friend, you know I’d never lie to you. That being said, I think you sounded great. Don’t be too hard on yourself over this,” Jack sincerely said, making Alex smile.  
“I guess I feel a little better about it now, thanks, guys,” Alex said with a small smile. Suddenly, he broke into another coughing fit, and Jack did what he could to help Alex until he finally stopped.  
“Man, that didn’t sound good,” Zack said.  
“Yeah, it really did,” Alex said, holding his throat.  
“Let’s get you back to your house, so we can watch the game, and you can rest up,” Jack decided. The four of them went back to Rian’s car, then drove back to Alex’s house.   
When they got there, Jack helped Alex get comfortable on the couch, then set up the game on the TV. Jack, Rian, and Zack all got snacks and drinks, and gave Alex medicine and water.  
“Thank you, guys, for being with me, and for being so supportive,” Alex said.  
“Of course, man. now, let’s watch the Orioles kick some ass!” Jack exclaimed. Their afternoon was filled with baseball and Alex’s coughing, but they didn’t mind, since they could all be together.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is something I wrote about a year ago that I never ended up posting. I meant to post a request today, but I didn't have it finished, and I didn't want to rush it, and have it lack in quality. I have a birthday request that should be going up tomorrow, which I'm very excited to write! Thank you for reading, always feel free to send in requests if you have them! Lots of love, Liv.


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